airplane_mech2:jayhawk88: To celebrate, I bought a four-story, 3,600-square-foot, turn-of-the-century house in Seattle's happening Capitol Hill neighborhood and, in a frenzy of consumption, bought a brand-new sectional couch (my first ever), a pair of $300 sunglasses, a ton of gadgets, like an Audible.com MobilePlayer (one of the first portable digital music players) and an audiophile-worthy five-disc CD player. And, of course, a black turbocharged Volvo. With a remote starter!

I've never understood the appeal of Ted talks. I watched maybe 10 of them before I realized they were self-absorbed know-it-alls who think they need to educate everyone about a niche topic, which they usually only know a modicum about. No offense Drew, but yours was a prime example.

I watched a continuous line of people leaving Ikea and walking to the parking garage last week. Most of them were pushing carts with large boxes. It looked exactly like ants returning to the hive carrying what they foraged, only in reverse.

I couldn't help but imagine all those cars leaving in a steady stream; returning to houses and apartments that slowly filled up with new things, while old things made their way to the dump.

It was disturbing, but also amazing to see. Like the stream of water that turns the mill wheel, this was a literal stream of consumers driving our economy.

So, anyway...that guy needs to STFU because I want my stock portfolio to increase in value.

JohnBigBootay:Although I would not write an article about it on the internet I actually agree with the guy in many ways.

That travelling the world with no real concern of future needs is superior to be tied down to one location while working most of your waking hours in the hopes that you don't end up bankrupt sometime in the future when you may have kids you need to raise?

Pocket Ninja:His description of Olga makes me think his life trajectory is actually closer to something like this:

1) Guy makes a lot of money, is happy, buys lots of crap he doesn't need.2) Guy meets girl who's very different from the normal, vapid, airheaded, money-grubbing girls he normally meets. She travels places he's never been, listens to bands he's never heard of, is shockingly open about how much she enjoys sex, and constantly talks about how she doesn't care about money.3) "Doesn't care about money" actually translates to "doesn't have money," but regardless of that fact she has learned that life can be experienced, gripped by the teeth, so to speak, by befriending people who do have it.4) Girl who doesn't care about/have money and guy who has money and wants to keep farking girl go on trip together to gritty but safe third world destination. He sees gritty things, like people bathing in rivers. Girl has a copy of "Lonely Planet" that they use to find authentic local restaurants filled with backpack-toting Americans.5) Guy begins to believe girl's message that money is unimportant, despite the fact that he is paying for everything. He begins to question his previous values. She encourages him, sometimes while out shopping.6) They return home. Guy announces plans to change his lifestyle, downsize, become less material.7) Girl dumps him.

The rest is fallout. Anyway, it's just one theory.

OK, focus groups tell us that we need a sassy black female and a precocious , wise beyond his/her ate, child and/or a snarky but kind old lady.

We have Zooey Deschanel's people on the phone, but we are not sure about the male lead.

Just make sure the "Third world country" doesn't look too third world and we can open the champagne...

DarkPascual:Pocket Ninja: His description of Olga makes me think his life trajectory is actually closer to something like this:

1) Guy makes a lot of money, is happy, buys lots of crap he doesn't need.2) Guy meets girl who's very different from the normal, vapid, airheaded, money-grubbing girls he normally meets. She travels places he's never been, listens to bands he's never heard of, is shockingly open about how much she enjoys sex, and constantly talks about how she doesn't care about money.3) "Doesn't care about money" actually translates to "doesn't have money," but regardless of that fact she has learned that life can be experienced, gripped by the teeth, so to speak, by befriending people who do have it.4) Girl who doesn't care about/have money and guy who has money and wants to keep farking girl go on trip together to gritty but safe third world destination. He sees gritty things, like people bathing in rivers. Girl has a copy of "Lonely Planet" that they use to find authentic local restaurants filled with backpack-toting Americans.5) Guy begins to believe girl's message that money is unimportant, despite the fact that he is paying for everything. He begins to question his previous values. She encourages him, sometimes while out shopping.6) They return home. Guy announces plans to change his lifestyle, downsize, become less material.7) Girl dumps him.

The rest is fallout. Anyway, it's just one theory.

OK, focus groups tell us that we need a sassy black female and a precocious , wise beyond his/her ate, child and/or a snarky but kind old lady.

We have Zooey Deschanel's people on the phone, but we are not sure about the male lead.

Just make sure the "Third world country" doesn't look too third world and we can open the champagne...

Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. Christ, do I have to do everything around here?

How could that possibly be a good thing? Most people would get rid of opulent things to make more room for books. Did he just keep the 5 he had actually read?

I need to get rid of all my books and get a kindle. He probably just did the same thing while saving a handful of the books he likes to present to company.

My wife and I have done this. For the newer stuff, where authors are still alive, or I haven't previously purchased, I'll buy an online copy. For the older stuff, where the author is long gone, I download their entire library (I do own a lot, but having everything is awesome). Having it all fit on a Kindle is a nice luxury.

Storage locker co's need to go. Unless you are moving and need it for about a month of transition you have too much stuff. And are paying ten times over on it... or making people rich on stupid tv shows.Other than that, this guy is an idiot. I would have been very happy in your shoes cockbag.

Pocket Ninja:His description of Olga makes me think his life trajectory is actually closer to something like this:

1) Guy makes a lot of money, is happy, buys lots of crap he doesn't need.2) Guy meets girl who's very different from the normal, vapid, airheaded, money-grubbing girls he normally meets. She travels places he's never been, listens to bands he's never heard of, is shockingly open about how much she enjoys sex, and constantly talks about how she doesn't care about money.3) "Doesn't care about money" actually translates to "doesn't have money," but regardless of that fact she has learned that life can be experienced, gripped by the teeth, so to speak, by befriending people who do have it.4) Girl who doesn't care about/have money and guy who has money and wants to keep farking girl go on trip together to gritty but safe third world destination. He sees gritty things, like people bathing in rivers. Girl has a copy of "Lonely Planet" that they use to find authentic local restaurants filled with backpack-toting Americans.5) Guy begins to believe girl's message that money is unimportant, despite the fact that he is paying for everything. He begins to question his previous values. She encourages him, sometimes while out shopping.6) They return home. Guy announces plans to change his lifestyle, downsize, become less material.7) Girl dumps him.

aedude01:sigdiamond2000: You know, between this and the Slate article yesterday by the allergic woman bragging about pestering a grieving mother at a wake about the peanut content of the food, I'm really starting to wonder whether these supposedly legitimate web sites/newspapers are purposely publishing stuff they know is trollish just for page hits.

I mean, I can't imagine more than 3% of the population not wanting to punch this guy in the face after reading this article. They have to realize that, right?

THIS. I'm typically non-violent but this self-absorbed douche needs a punch to the throat.

Quote: "Aside from my travel habit - which I try to keep in check by minimizing trips, combining trips and purchasing carbon offsets - I feel better that my carbon footprint is significantly smaller than in my previous supersized life."

If only we could all have the time to stress about our carbon footprint. He reminds me of every hill staffer/intern that I've ever met in DC.

Wouldn't he be having an even bigger carbon footprint than before now with all the traveling and jet fuel that he is using?

WTF Indeed:Lumpmoose: A phone isn't supposed to "excite" you or improve your emotional state. You sound farked up in the head in a way that shouldn't be blamed on materialism. See a therapist. Moving from one extreme to the other doesn't make you wise.

The problem is he is like many people who don't have the money to upgrade their lives yet still feel the need to do it anyway. So instead of writing an article about this problem, he wrote one about how stuff doesn't buy happiness while sitting in his $2,000-a month NYC apartment.

UGH. A friend of mine is going through a depression, which of course is really serious but he's become such a prick. He goes to me all knowingly and haughty: "Money doesn't buy you happiness". I told him that I agree, and that is why even though I can make double my salary in corporate, I prefer my independent contractor lifestyle. I take happiness and lifestyle over money. But he kept on behaving like I have NO IDEA what he was talking about. And so basically I said, "Really? Money doesn't make you happy? That's rich, coming from a guy wearing a Rolex who lives in a $600k 1 bedroom. Seriously, why don't you ask how happy your salary would make your maid?"

His wife (who is grew up in a very working class lifestyle in the Midwest) busted out laughing.

Magnanimous_J:lostcat: I couldn't help but imagine all those cars leaving in a steady stream; returning to houses and apartments that slowly filled up with new things, while old things made their way to the dump.

Everything in the universe is cyclical. Stars form, live, supernova and disperse the elements that coalesce into the solar system that is born in its place.

Pocket Ninja:His description of Olga makes me think his life trajectory is actually closer to something like this:

1) Guy makes a lot of money, is happy, buys lots of crap he doesn't need.2) Guy meets girl who's very different from the normal, vapid, airheaded, money-grubbing girls he normally meets. She travels places he's never been, listens to bands he's never heard of, is shockingly open about how much she enjoys sex, and constantly talks about how she doesn't care about money.3) "Doesn't care about money" actually translates to "doesn't have money," but regardless of that fact she has learned that life can be experienced, gripped by the teeth, so to speak, by befriending people who do have it.4) Girl who doesn't care about/have money and guy who has money and wants to keep farking girl go on trip together to gritty but safe third world destination. He sees gritty things, like people bathing in rivers. Girl has a copy of "Lonely Planet" that they use to find authentic local restaurants filled with backpack-toting Americans.5) Guy begins to believe girl's message that money is unimportant, despite the fact that he is paying for everything. He begins to question his previous values. She encourages him, sometimes while out shopping.6) They return home. Guy announces plans to change his lifestyle, downsize, become less material.7) Girl dumps him.

FTFA: I LIVE in a 420-square-foot studio. I sleep in a bed that folds down from the wall. I have six dress shirts. I have 10 shallow bowls that I use for salads and main dishes. When people come over for dinner, I pull out my extendable dining room table. I don't have a single CD or DVD and I have 10 percent of the books I once did.

He has more than me, and a lot of that shiat is actually MORE expensive than folks like me can afford. Cute fold-out shiat from Sharper Image tends to be pricey, or have to be replaced constantly.

All you need to have done to see the epidemic of materialism was to drive through south central Los Angeles on any weekend, preferably holiday weekend, before the 2007/2008 crash and look at the cars the people who live there drive. It seemed that a double-digit percentage of people that live in the LA Slums at one point owned a Cadillac Escalade. Their homes usually had bars on the windows and the yards were not well maintained. However, their mobile-status symbol which they had probably not made regular payments on, let them drive anywhere in LA and appear "wealthy".

"I used to own a lot of really cool stuff. Then I threw it all away, to become a better person. Now I suddenly need some of that cool stuff back, so I called in my last few favors to get the Times to run this article, about how you can also be a better person if you get rid of all your cool stuff, mostly by giving it to me."

I've never understood the appeal of Ted talks. I watched maybe 10 of them before I realized they were self-absorbed know-it-alls who think they need to educate everyone about a niche topic, which they usually only know a modicum about. No offense Drew, but yours was a prime example.

Once one understands that TED is 'non-profit' in the same way that the US Olympic Committee is 'non-profit', and that anyone can host their own franchised TED talk if they pony up enough money, one begins to realize that the talks are auditory Facebook posts.

Big Man On Campus:All you need to have done to see the epidemic of materialism was to drive through south central Los Angeles on any weekend, preferably holiday weekend, before the 2007/2008 crash and look at the cars the people who live there drive. It seemed that a double-digit percentage of people that live in the LA Slums at one point owned a Cadillac Escalade. Their homes usually had bars on the windows and the yards were not well maintained. However, their mobile-status symbol which they had probably not made regular payments on, let them drive anywhere in LA and appear "wealthy".

Materialism run amok, L.A. is the heart of it all.

Hehe, same in NYC. The project's parking lots are filled with SWEET cars.

And my husband and I make a living in the top 8% and don't even own one.